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Fresh bid to tap tele-talk

Security agencies press for making police verification a must for new cellphone connection

MUSTAK HOSSAIN
Security agencies have asked the telecoms regulator to introduce mandatory police verification for new cellphone connections in a bid to control telephone conversations in the name of national security.
In a letter to the chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the National Security Intelligence (NSI) asked the watchdog to take an undertaking from the would-be subscribers that they would not
object to the security agencies' tapping their telephonic conversations for the sake of national security.
Subscribers reacted to the plan that they said would be an additional hassle. "Police demand conveyance allowance to do verifications for passport and other needs," Mizanur Rahman, a businessman, said in distrust of police roles.
"In many countries you can have a prepaid cellphone without producing any document."
The letter that came after the proposed amendment to Bangladesh Telecommunications Act 2001was delayed also requested the regulator to ask telecoms service providers and internet service providers (ISPs) to maintain a subscribers' database which the intelligence agencies can access for pressing charges and trial purposes.
The agencies also asked the chairman to take steps so that private cellphone operators take character and nationality certificates from the intending cellphone subscribers.
Contacted, a senior BTRC official acknowledged the content of the letter but said they cannot entertain such requests. "It is not feasible," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He however would not elaborate.
Authorities are scrutinising two drafts on amending the 2001 telecoms act, incorporating the provision of tapping calls, busting emails and making police verification for cellphone connection mandatory following requests by the security agencies including Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and NSI.
The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MoPT) in an inter-ministerial meeting last month discussed modalities to amend the act and reviewed two drafts prepared separately by the Ministry of Law and BTRC.
"We have discussed various aspects and felt the need to hold another meeting where the attorney general and secretary of the law ministry will be present to express their opinions," a senior MoPT official told The Daily Star.
The final draft will be prepared following the meeting and be placed in parliament, said the official who also asked not to be named.
Despite widespread concern and criticism from home and abroad, the government is amending the law at the request of intelligence agencies citing national security as the reason.
The home ministry in the inter-ministerial meeting last month sought the provision of mandatory police verification to get a cellphone connection in the wake of growing phone-based crimes like demanding ransom and making threats.
The security agencies want to tap calls on both fixed and cellular phones to ensure national security, said the official adding that such a law exists in the neighbouring countries.
The telecoms act stipulates that
breaching individual privacy by eavesdropping on telephone conversation between two persons is a punishable offence as it infringes on civil rights.
"These types of measures will not only obstruct the tele-density and tele-reach but will also breach the civil rights," said an official of a cellphone company, preferring to remain unnamed.
On the move to access the subscribers' database, an academic told The Daily Star that such interception "could be used as a weapon to blackmail people".
The intelligence agencies also want to amend Section 30 of the telecoms act (concerning privacy) to read: "...to ensure protection of the privacy of telecommunications subject to the national security laws."
Such a general clause would allow intelligence officials greater scope to intervene. Some rights activists say they fear the amendments would turn the country into a "police state".
The changes also apparently contradict the act's main aim of having an independent commission -- the BTRC -- to regulate telecommunications. Many view the move is aimed at transferring BTRC's powers back to the telecoms ministry.
Reporters sans frontieres (Reporters Without Borders), Parisbased journalists' rights organisation, had expressed concern at the proposed changes to the telecoms act saying these would tighten control over e-mail traffic, legalise invasion of privacy and undermine freedom of expression.
It urged the government not to go ahead with the proposed changes. "Respect for confidentiality of personal information obtained from ISPs or through email messages must be an unshakeable principal of any democratic society," it said.
"New information technology allows greater monitoring of personal messages and the Bangladesh government must respect the privacy of its citizens and their right to communicate freely," it added.